Four steps to choosing a web developer

As the Internet becomes the main (and for many companies, the only) promotion tool, competition between sites is intensifying. Now it is vital for companies not only to establish an online presence, but also to stand out from competitors by offering better communication with consumers. Those who have not yet realized this are quickly losing the market.

The effectiveness of websites practically does not depend on the equipment on which they are developed. Basically, everything is decided only by personnel. And the surest way to gain leadership is to work with a better team of performers than your competitors. But how can you make an informed choice of web development services if neither the price of the web studio’s services, nor its big name, nor the smile of the sales manager guarantee that the site will be profitable? Learn more about web development services at https://hutko.dev.

Here is  a small guide to help you search and select performers with a favorable price-quality ratio.

Open

Clearly formulate the task.

Record in writing the requirements and wishes for the functionality and design of the site. You shouldn’t hope to meet a telepathic performer who will understand without words and perfectly realize your secret expectations. It is better to prepare a document (brief) with a maximum of useful information, which will immediately cut off most of the trivial questions of a web developer. This could be a free email or a completed application form from the agency.

If you already have a website and are planning to modernize it, try to formulate in as much detail as possible what you are not happy with about it.

The brief should answer at least the following questions:

• What business tasks will the website perform?

— Who represents the target audience of the site?

— Why will visitors visit the site and how to attract them there?

— If a website promotes a product or service, why will visitors want to buy it?

— How does your company position itself in the market?

— Who are your main competitors and how do you differ from them?

This document will be the starting point for subsequent communications with representatives of web studios, and will subsequently form the basis of the technical specifications. The more detailed the brief, the easier it will be to conduct a dialogue with potential performers.

Determine the circle of tender participants

There are many professional web studios, so there will be no end to those who want to make a website at the market price. The main task of the customer is to choose from the total mass of the contractor who will offer the optimal price-quality ratio.

You should start your search with recommendations - and the best recommendation, as we know, is a job well done. Find out who made the most successful sites of the type you are interested in, and contact their developers first. If you personally know the owners of these sites, do not be lazy to make inquiries about the contractor: how accurately he managed to fulfill the technical task, meet the deadlines and budget, what were the main problems in the development and how they were solved.

At the second stage of partner selection, you can refer to web studio catalogs and ratings. To quickly navigate the list of companies, make a selection and sort by relevant data - city of presence, date of founding of the studio, number of works in the portfolio. It is possible to make a selection based on prices, since many studios have indicated the size of typical budgets for the creation of corporate portals, promotional sites, online stores and portals.

If you were unable to select an artist based on a recommendation or catalogue, you can search on  Google. But it is worth considering that many professional companies do not invest heavily in search engine optimization of their Internet sites (their main promotion tool is PR). In the first positions of search engines, there are more often companies focused on the mass client and developing standard, often not very high-quality websites. It is also worth considering that there is no correlation between the quality and cost of a company's services and its current place in the top ten of the search engine.

Hold a tender

The most convenient way to request commercial proposals from a group of web studios is through an electronic tender platform. The ability to send one application to several companies at once saves the customer’s time, and the public form of the proposal spurs competition between performers. Electronic tender platforms are currently being developed on several professional web developer portals and differ in functionality and popularity. 

If for some reason the electronic tender platform is not suitable, requests can also be sent by regular email. In this case, ask the contractors to detail the commercial proposal. It should contain the following information:

— Cost of services in relation to the main stages of work (Internet consulting and writing technical specifications, creative design, technical design, html layout, website integration with CMS, programming (in case of non-standard solutions)

— Deadlines and schedule work

• Resources (how many programmers, designers and other employees will be involved in the project)

• What CMS (content management system) will the Internet project be developed on

• What documentation will be prepared

• Warranty conditions, cost of post-warranty support

— Works in the portfolio that demonstrate the contractor’s experience in solving problems similar to yours (this is especially true for non-standard projects)

These are the main criteria by which proposals can be compared.

Web studios are usually given from 3 to 10 days to prepare answers. When evaluating a commercial proposal, it is advisable to pay attention not only to the fixed conditions, but also to other points: speed of reaction and follow-up, attention to detail, comfort of communication, whether the studio offers any new ideas.

Analyze the offers and choose a partner

. And you should only cross the threshold of top companies if you have the appropriate budget . It often happens that a customer receives commercial offers that exceed his capabilities, especially when it comes to a debut website. If such a problem arises and you have not received a commercial proposal that meets both the requirements of the brief and financial capabilities, then re-evaluate the required functionality and the budget that you can invest in development. Perhaps, after requesting the cost of services from the companies you like, the shortlist will have to be adjusted and re-sent requests to several more places (or turn to freelancers if the budget is small). The second option is to immediately proceed to negotiations with the company’s management. It's no secret that many clients look at price as an indicator of the quality of work and the status of the company. And a number of performers, in turn, take this into account in their pricing. If you have a well-known brand or an interesting project, there is every chance of reaching a compromise. It is sometimes useful to hold negotiations in the offices of web studios in order to personally see the employees and evaluate other resources of the company, and not judge it only by the website. Personal meetings will help not only to achieve more favorable conditions for the cost and terms of services, but also to determine which of the performers is most comfortable to conduct a dialogue with. Personal compatibility is very important, since most often, after the development of a website, the partnership with a web studio does not end. It is necessary to promote, maintain and update the site, and develop new functionality for it. It is possible to effectively carry out these tasks only with long-term cooperation.